Before its annual meeting began Monday, the World Health Assembly was poised to make difficult decisions on a proposed treaty that could “reshape the architecture of global health security,” as some participants put it.
Instead, a big announcement the day before ended up reshaping the discussions at the assembly, the world’s highest-level health policy forum.
On May 17, the World Health Organization made an unprecedented declaration about an epidemic of a rare type of the Ebola virus in Central Africa. The WHO added that the regional emergency was “of international concern” because of the outbreak’s “scale and speed.”
As the assembly opened, WHO officials helped shift the discussions by highlighting lessons learned from previous Ebola outbreaks, especially the use of nonmedical steps such as alleviating fear and building up community trust.
They praised the caring and courageous efforts of frontline healthcare workers in countries affected by the crisis – Congo and Uganda – saying it was hard to recall a previous response that was so quick and decisive.
“Ebola is a very serious disease, but it is one that we know how to control,” said Mohamed Janabi, WHO’s director for Africa, according to UN News. “It does not mean people should panic. It means the global system is working as it should be, detecting and responding very decisively.”
“Fear by itself is an outbreak,” he added.
Officials also noted the importance of a quick response to manage fear. “The speed of the response in the first days is essential to interrupt transmission and avoid a wider spread of this epidemic,” Dr. Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO emergency director for Africa, told UN News.
The WHO now also encourages health officials to work with each community, especially religious and traditional leaders, as well as healers. “We are not going to come and dictate our science … but rather work with them,” Dr. Belizaire said. And the agency has also learned in recent years not to name each outbreak of a disease with a term likely to incite fear.
Taking such calming actions has been called “fear-guarding.” As a global report stated after the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa: “Responding to fear and misinformation will be one of the most critical challenges in handling future pandemics.”